Sea fishing competitions are an opportunity to gather, during a weekend, a multitude of enthusiasts. Organized with a master's hand by teams of volunteers, these gatherings are above all convivial moments where good humor flows freely. That said, the competition aspect, in the good sense of the term and without animosity, remains present. Each team opts for the strategy it considers the most appropriate in order to be as high as possible in the final ranking.
A defined fishing area
Competitors are confined to a zone defined by the organization and outside of which it is forbidden to leave on pain of disqualification. This zone is communicated to the competitors and a map showing the zone is given to them. The GPS coordinates are available to integrate them into the navigation instruments.
The location of the area
As the areas are known in advance, competitors are free to go to them to get acquainted with them and try to spot promising areas. This practice, called prefishing, is very common.
But beware of its perverse effect that can give you bad information. The active fish you locate on Thursday may not be active on Saturday. Also keep in mind that the purpose of prefishing is not to catch as many fish as possible but to locate them. Most of the fish you catch on Friday, the day before the competition, will not be active on Saturday.
The pre-departure briefing
In most cases, the competitions take place over a full weekend, which means one round per day. Each race is preceded by a briefing announcing the weather conditions of the day, the particular recommendations of the organization and the reminder of the rules to be respected. At the end of this briefing, the competitors join their boats for the setting on the starting line.
Counting the points
For sea bass fishing competitions, points are awarded according to the size of the fish caught. Each centimeter corresponds to 1 point as soon as the fish reaches the legal size of capture, that is 42 cm.
This fish is presented to a commissioner and must be released in good conditions for the measure to be validated.
For sea bass competitions, only the 5 longest fish are counted. You can present as many fishes as you wish to the stewards.
Example: During the day, you present 8 fish of 42-44-48-50-56-60-70-74 to the stewards. Only the 5 longest ones, i.e. 74-70-60-56-50 are counted and give you a total of 310 points.
For multi-species competitions, such as the Festi Fish organized in Brehat, the objective is to catch as many species as possible. Each species is assigned a number of points. The fishermen are themselves commissioners and must photograph their catches.
The final result is known, either by adding the results of the 2 rounds in the case of a competition spread over a whole weekend, or at the end of the single round in the case of a competition on a single day.
The prizes offered by the partners of these events are then handed out.
Conviviality
It is the spearhead of these weekends of gathering of enthusiasts. Exchanges and meetings are numerous and good mood is a key word. The Open des Glénan, organized every year in June, is undoubtedly the most successful competition in terms of organization. This team of volunteers is able to gather 130 teams of 2 competitors, without counting the accompanying boats and commissioner, all with a meticulous organization.
